1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to microwave ovens, and more particularly, to a microwave oven having a structure that allows a motor for a stirrer, which serves as a microwave dispersing device to uniformly disperse microwaves into a cooking cavity, to be easily and rapidly mounted to the microwave oven.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, microwave ovens are appliances which heat and/or cook food laid in their cooking cavities using high-frequency electromagnetic waves generated by magnetrons installed in machine rooms. That is, during a cooking operation, the magnetron installed in the machine room irradiates the high-frequency electromagnetic waves, so-called “microwaves”, into the cooking cavity. The microwaves penetrate food so as to repeatedly change the molecular arrangement of water laden in the food, thus causing the molecules of the water to vibrate and generate frictional heat within the food to cook the food. Such microwave ovens are typically classified into two types, that is, a general type microwave oven and a wall-mounted type microwave oven. The general type microwave oven is placed on a countertop of a cooking space. The wall-mounted type microwave oven is mounted to a wall of a cooking space, and collaterally serves to exhaust gas or smoke produced from an oven range positioned below the wall-mounted type microwave oven, in addition to carrying out a cooking function.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the conventional wall-mounted type microwave oven includes a cabinet 10 which defines an external appearance of the microwave oven. The cabinet 10 is partitioned into a cooking cavity 11 and a machine room 12.
An exhaust passage 13 is defined around lower portions and rear portions of the cooking cavity 11 and the machine room 12 to guide exhaust gas or smoke produced from an oven range (not shown) placed below the cabinet 10, so as to discharge the exhaust gas or smoke to the outside of the microwave oven. A fan motor 14 and two exhaust fans 15 are provided at an upper-rear portion of the cabinet 1 to suck the exhaust gas or smoke guided along the exhaust passage 13 and discharge the exhaust gas or smoke to the outside. In this case, the exhaust fans 15 are mounted to both ends of the fan motor 14. The exhaust passage 13 forms a path which is partitioned from the cooking cavity 11 and the machine room 12.
A cooling fan 16 is installed in the machine room 12 to cool several electrical devices that operate the microwave oven. A front air intake grill 17 is provided at an upper portion of a front of the machine room 12 to suck external air into the machine room 12 where the cooling fan 16 is operated. Further, a plurality of perforations 19 are formed on a partition wall 18 by which the cooking cavity 11 and the machine room 12 are partitioned from each other, so as to have the air sucked into the machine room 12 flow into the cooking cavity 11 through the perforations 19, thus ventilating the cooking cavity 11. A plurality of perforations (not shown) are formed on an upper portion of a wall of the cooking cavity 11 which is opposite to the partition wall 18, thus exhausting the air from the cooking cavity 11. A front air discharging grill 20 is provided at an upper portion of a front of the cabinet 10 so as to discharge the air exhausted from the cooking cavity 11 to the outside of the microwave oven through the front air discharging grill 20 of the cabinet 10.
The electrical devices of the machine room 12 include a magnetron 21 which irradiates microwaves into the cooking cavity 11 to cook food. A wave guide 24 is mounted to a ceiling 22 of the cooking cavity 11 and the machine room 12 so as to guide the microwaves from the magnetron 21 into the cooking cavity 11. A stirrer 30 is mounted at an outlet of the wave guide 24.
The stirrer 30 includes a fan 31 and a motor 32. The fan 31 has a plurality of blades, and the motor 32 rotates the fan 31. Thus, where the fan 31 is rotated by the motor 32, the microwaves are dispersed in several directions in the cooking cavity 11. The fan 31 is provided at a position inside the wave guide 24. The motor 32 is mounted to an outer surface of the wave guide 24, and is axially connected to the fan 31.
FIG. 2 shows a plan view of a conventional motor mounting unit for mounting the motor 32 to the wave guide 24. As illustrated in the drawing, to mount the motor 32 to the wave guide 24, a bracket 35 is provided on the outer surface of the wave guide 24.
Two flanges 33 are projected from an outer circumferential surface of the motor 32 so as to be diametrically opposite to each other. A plurality of holes 34 are formed on each flange 33 to mount the motor 32 to the bracket 35. Further, a plurality of holes (not shown) corresponding to the holes 34 are formed on both sides of the bracket 35.
To mount the motor 32 to the bracket 35, the holes 34 formed on the flanges 33 of the motor 32 are aligned with the holes of the bracket 35, and screws 36 are tightened into the aligned holes.
However, with the conventional motor mounting structure described above, the holes 34 provided on the flanges 33 of the motor 32 may be misaligned with the holes provided on the bracket 35, even with a slight movement of the motor 32 while the screws 36 are tightened into the aligned holes. Accordingly, it is difficult and time consuming to mount the motor 32 to the wave guide 24.